Coming Up To VW Cup Round 3 at Snetterton

Dust from the second VW Cup round at Rockingham has set and round 3 at Snetterton is less than two weeks away. Drivers have been preparing for the race by organising as many test days as possible. Two of the RCIB Racing sponsored TEAM Hard drivers, Jamie Bond and Toby Davis have both completed their first test days on 11th of May and are growing in confidence for round 3. Jamie Bond had quite a tough second round, but managed to end it on the podium stand, with an overall points standing after Oulton and Rockingham, in third position, behind Phil House in second and Tom Witts in first.

Rockingham proved to be rather dynamic for Bond, he qualified in moderate 9th place, but eventually climbed his way through to 4th and had a great battle for the podium, only 100th of a second between his rival and him, he ended up 4th. However with the 3rd place finisher being excluded, he was automatically promoted up to 3rd. Race 2 was probably as much of a roller coaster as race 1 for Jamie. He started 4th and had a great run up until he went to get second gear and missed it, which dropped him down to 9th place. With his tyres going off more and more each lap, it was a real struggle to keep the car on the tarmac. However, he managed to fight his way back to 6th place, which again is still a great result and more importantly scored him very decent points. Jamie is pleased with his progress:

“I am happy with the results from Oulton Park and Rockingham. We are still learning every time we get in the car and I know that there is a lot more to come.

The preparation for Snetterton has been going well, it will be the first time that I will have raced at Snetterton. Regardless, our first test on the 11th of May went great – really enjoyed the track, it suits my driving style wonderfully. Gym work has also been going very well – making sure I’m fully prepared for the race ahead.

I do have very high hopes for the third round at Snetterton, after my test there I truly believe we can go for the win!”

Davis had struggled over the winter to put a package together for this season, hence was quite late confirming his place in the team:

“We didn’t get the testing that we were hoping for! That said, we came out of Oulton with a great 2nd race, where I finished 7th having started in 20th position, and the pace was really good. Of course, at Rockingham we took a podium in race 1 and came from the back of the grid in race 2 to finish 5th, with a fastest lap also. The car was new for Rockingham and felt really awesome! I have driven a lot of Golfs over the last couple of years and this one is by far the best that I have driven.”

In preparation Toby likes to watch his on boards from the previous season and doing a few laps on the simulator. To increase support and continuation of funding he had also been promoting his latest vlog. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes and it really isn’t as simple as arriving at the track and driving. Currently standing with 70 points, in 12th position, he expects to only go higher up the board in the next round:

“I have to say that Snetterton is one of my favourite circuits on the calendar, so I’m hoping for good things. The flow of the circuit really suits my driving style and I have had a lot of success there in the past in Superkarts. Hopefully I can be at the front of the field, showing the RCIB logo off to the fans and the cameras!”